Cru - A Wine Bar at Park Meadows in Denver

Sure, it's a chain, in a shopping mall, in the suburbs. But the mettle of this particular Crú bar is apparent in the chef's picks and sommelier's selections. The Chef's Picks cheese flight included a goat's cheese brie, morbier, and petit basque. The Sommelier's Selections wine flight covered some interesting ground. A tauntingly luscious Spanish selection, a respectable low-end Ridge Zinfandel (which is like saying mid-tier Mercedes), and a sumptuous Napa Valley Cabernet. While Napa Cabs are challenging to this value-conscious sommelier given the meteoric rise in prices over the last decade, this one delivered beyond it's boastful 92pt rating ... a provident vintage deserving of joyous scrutiny by connoisseurs.

Oh how easy would it be to dismiss Cru Wine as a mere retail suburban manifestation of style over substance. But substance is all we found on a recent date night. The sommelier is currently a second tier member of the internationally renowned Court of Master Sommeliers, a Certified Wine Educator, and was nominated by one Claude Robbins, the master whom I studied under and the Chair & Founder of the International Wine Guild, to compete in the national young sommelier's event. No, Cru in the burbs should not only be not overlooked, but should soon find it on your short list for a night out.

Southern Breakfast - Country Biscuits & Sausage Gravy with Perfect Scrambled Eggs

On my recent trip to Nashville, I had the most schizophrenic breakfast of my life. This was at my hotel, and as I've said before, Hotel Food Sucks, Well Mostly. This meal happened at one of the Hilton properties.

The Exceptional: Biscuits and Gravy, made from scratch, you can tell the South has this down pat
The God Awful: Eggs with Chaulky Cheese Goo from a can

The eggs at McDonald's are 100x better, it was like they took a carton of premixed eggs, microwaved all the moisture out of it, coated it in ... in ... well I'd say Cheeze Whiz but that would be tremendously unfair to Cheeze Whiz ... no it was even worse than the cheese in the spray cans, it was like the stuff that you might find between crackers at the gas station for 50 cents, but so much worse.

Anyway, contrast that with some of the best biscuits and gravy I've ever had and you see the duality of my emotion.

Anyway, trying to focus on the good from the situation, I decided to make biscuits from scratch and share my biscuits and gravy experience with my family for Sunday Brunch.



Country Biscuits
400g bread flour
20g fine grain sea salt
20g premium baking powder
140g cold unsalted organic butter
240g 1% organic milk (~1 cup)

Evenly sift all the dry ingredients together. Cut in the butter while cold, this can be done with your hands, a pastry "cutter" or with a paddle in a stand mixer on low speed. You want to keep the butter from melting (this is the biscuit method) and achieve a mealy consistency. Next add the milk an gently stir to combine (just barely incorporate the milk, it doesn't have to be even). On a flour dusted surface, knead the dough with 3-4 passed then press into a 1/2-3/4 thick mound. Using a biscuit cutter or circular mold, press out 10-12 biscuits and place these on a silicon mat (silpat) lined baking sheet. Place the biscuits in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes (this isn't absolutely necessary, but it helps to achive flakely and moist results since it keeps the center cooler). Bake at 425F for 12-15 minutes until the tops are brown but the sides are still white and have visible stratification of flaky layers.

For the sausage, I browned 1lb of organic lower fat sage breakfast sausage, then reserve about 3/4 of this under a heat lamp. With the remaining 1/4 lb, I deglazed with homemade chicken stock (about 2-3 cups), then sprinkled in flour (about 1/4 cup), and vigorously combined. I added a little rubbed sage, a touch of salt, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I finished the thickening process with a tablespoon of unsalted butter then added fresh cracked black pepper to taste.

For perfect scrambled eggs, whisk by hand until an even consistency is achieved, don't worry about aerating / foaming the eggs, this actually makes the eggs spongy not fluffy. Add some butter to a medium heated nonstick pan and bring it to the point of foaming. Then add the eggs and continuously turn with a silicon spatula. Once the eggs are more solid than liquid, start shaking the pan periodically, then turning with the spatula, and repeat. This yields perfectly fluffy eggs, and the hint of butter brings out the fresh flavor of the eggs.

This was my wifes first experience with biscuits and gravy and it was a hit. The key was the biscuits that turned out so well that me and my little sous chef snuck one in the afternoon, cold with nothing on it.

Ichiban Sushi in Nashville

So 5 days of BBQ and bar food had my fellow conference goers craving something clean and unadulterated. I had bumped into a couple women going into Ichibans a few days before and asked if the sushi there was good. One of them remarked, "I've been on the road all the way from Atlanta, just go out of the car, and this is my first stop".

With that recommendation, certainly it was worth a try. The sushi menu had all the standard stuff, very reasonable prices. The ultimate measure of a sushi restaurant is the freshness, flair, and portions for the price. We all ate a bunch of sushi and got out of there for $40 a head. Very fresh, healthy portions, and elegantly assembled. Now I'm not sure I'd drive out of my way for this place, but maybe Sushi is a relatively scarce scene in the South. I'd put this on par with Sonoda's in Denver, a standby with consistent quality and reasonable prices.

Rippy's BBQ in Nashville

So when I was asking the locals in Nashville about where to get some good BBQ, Rippy's and Jack's were the two everyone mentioned. Rippy's seems like a chaotic mix of sports bar, BBQ joint, and live music haunt. I went there while at a conference with a group of serious software geeks. Our crew just finished a grueling 12 hour day of reviewing research papers from several PhD's in Computer Science, so with overworked brains and under-satiated bellies, we visited Rippy's.

The party included people from Japan, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Portugal, and myself the sole American. We were all interested in the BBQ so we sample the pulled pork, Ribs, and at our waitperson's insistence, the onion rings. Each plate came with spicy beans, cornbread, and coleslaw.

Everyone was very pleased with their orders. My ribs were great, an 8.5/10, the sauce was a little too sweet to my liking (as was the case at Jack's). The rings, beans and cornbread were all on the money. All the International visitors were impressed to be sure.

So I should have stopped there, but a few days later, I came back with a few colleagues and had a burger (at this point I had had my fill of all things BBQ). The burger seemed to have been made maybe a day earlier and barely reheated, honestly it was almost cold. So if you eat at Rippy's, come at night and stick to the BBQ.

Demo's Steak & Spaghetti in Nashville

So to be honest, after a few days in Nashville I was getting pretty cynical about the restaurant scene. This was not an epicurean trip, but a business trip wherein I was looking forward to sampling the local everyday food fare. When my colleagues and I saw the sign for "Demo's - Steak and Spaghetti" we snickered about the idea of pairing these things. But one day after being presented with the option of Panera or Demo's, we took a leap of faith and went to Demo's for lunch.

The menu only reinforced our misgivings at first as we immediately saw "Mexican Spaghetti". Uh-oh ... well we were here, we were all hungry, and worst case we could fill up on garlic bread and be on our way. I dove in ordering the pasta sampler with marinara & meatballs, clam sauce, and brown butter with garlic hoping at least one item was palatable. After a couple bites, we were all taken back, humbled & sorrowful for how we had poked fun, but overjoyed by how good the food was. The Americanized versions of Italian dishes is generally a sore subject with me, so the fact that the spaghetti and meatballs were noteworthy has me still shaking my head. This jaded eater was completely impressed by Demo's, solid food, made fresh from scratch (well not the pasta, but all the sauces were), very reasonably priced, and delivered by a courteous and attentive staff.

As weary as I've become of cliched American pasta dishes, this was just simply good food. The clam sauce was excellent, brown butter and garlic sauce spot on for what it should be, and the marinara obviously was using very ripe and fresh tomatoes. Mind you this isn't a place for an intimate special occasion, but as a lunch haunt or dinner place for a big crew, Demo's will not disappoint. They've got a formula, and in these trying economic times, Demo's should be on your list if you're in or around Nashville.

Jack's BBQ / Jack's Bar-B-Que in Nashville

Just returned from a couple conferences co-located in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the local haunts, located a block from the Nashville Convention Center on Broadway, was this place Jack's BBQ. The first night at the conference I walked past Jack's and noticed a line of 40-50 people going out the door, and after talking to a couple locals, I became convinced this was the place to go. The build up was big, after all Barbeque / BBQ is one of the things that Tennessee prides itself upon, with Memphis being up there nationally with the likes of BBQ hubs like Kansas City, North Carolina, and Texas.

The good: pork shoulder, not bad
The better: ribs, pretty solid, dry rubbed approach
The best: beef brisket, amazing, addictive
The bad: the BBQ sauces were pretty weak, very sweet and out of balance, not very interesting or complex; the mac & cheese was chaulky and reminded me of long-ago horrors at Furr's

After 3 visits to Jack's (due to the lack of many options in downtown Nashville other than "bar food"), I'd say it's a very good BBQ joint, but apart from the brisket I'd say nothing was in the vicinity of award winning. Relative to your other options downtown, Jack's is one to keep in mind, it is a good taste of Nashville, but it's not destination worthy.

Frozen "Salad"

What you're looking at is frozen essence of spinach, arugula, & romaine, topped with a duo of frozen balsamic vinegar and frozen raspberry vinegar. No this was not my idea, just a slight modification of a recipe in the Alinea Cookbook. The salad essence came of juicing 1 lb of spinach, 3/4 pound arugula, and 1 small head of romaine. This was then seasoned, strained, frozen, and then shaved using the long strokes of a fork. The Alinea recipe used red wine vinegar, but I substituted for the duo here mostly because I was out of red wine vinegar and I tackled this on a whim. After plating the 3 frozen elements, this was topped with a few drops of olive oil.

The flavor of the salad essense was intense, very enjoyable and texturally challenging, certainly a deconstruction and reimagining of what a salad in it's simplest form could be. It's obvious Grant Achatz likes to intensify flavors from this preparation, the volume on this one was all the way up, but the vinegars where too intense. I didn't follow the recipe completely, well really at all, but rather the idea of it. Admittedly if I had, it would have been a little more in balance as here the vinegar should have been diluted or more sparingly used, but a qualified success, interesting techniques.

Braised Pork Belly with Garlic & Cote du Rhone Gravy

The inspiration for this came from an old episode of The F Word on BBC America, wherein Gordon Ramsey cooked the pigs he raised throughout the season. The best trick I gleaned from this was using garlic as a base to insulate the pork belly as it braised, and using aluminum foil to improve the heat transfer to the skin side; the pork stays moist and the skin crisps up like a cracklin.

For this preparation I was lucky enough to obtain a fresh Niman Ranch pork belly from Marczyk's. I scored the skin to encourage rendering of the fat, seasoned thoroughly with salt and pepper, and coated it in olive oil. I horizontally split 4 garlic bulbs and placed these flesh side up on a sheet pan. Then topped each halved bulb with 2 to 1 thyme to rosemary, coated these in olive oil, and placed the belly on top, skin side up. I then added 1/2 a bottle of Vernaccia di San Gimignano to the pan and covered with aluminum foil, attempting to get a very good seal.

The pan was placed in a 400F oven for 1 hour, then braised with a little additional wine at 300F for 40 minutes, and finished the initial cooking with 20 minutes at 400F. I reserved the belly in the fridge and pressed it with a marble cheese cutter and weighed this down with a few cans. The pan was then deglazed with the remaining white wine, and then the sauce was passed through a chinois and reserved in the fridge.

After chilling and pressing for 4 hours, I cut individual portions of the belly and roasted these uncovered for 20 minutes at 400F, flipping every 5 minutes. The gravy base was skimmed of fat and then infused with 2 cups of Côtes du Rhône over medium low heat, just to simmer out most of the alcohol. Seasoning was adjusted with black pepper and salt.


Despite the original fat content in the belly, the preparation is nouvelle a la Ramsey to be sure, and the fat in the Niman Ranch belly seemed much lighter than conventional pork (ok this is geeky, but the fat was really snow white and the meat was substanstial for a belly). The pork belly was plated and coated with a couple small spoonfuls of the robust gravy (remember there are 4 cloves of roasted garlic that were passed through a chinois here). This was served with parsnip puree (substituting 1% milk for the heavy cream as there was enough richness in the meal from the belly) and broccoli. A 9 out of 10 sumptuous pork belly here, very rustic and old world in the flavor profile.

It's too bad the F Word appears to be no more, it was far more about the food than the antics of Ramsey and, as he likes to say, the donkeys.

Caring for Your Cutting Board

Cutting boards and knives are a chef's best friend, and both need maintenance to keep them in top functional form. Cutting boards can accumulate bacteria and over time become, well just beat up. While most of the time cleaning is sufficient, every 2-3 months I give it the white glove treatment as follows.

Liberally spray with a solution of 1/2 teaspoon bleach to 1 quart water and let it set for 4 minutes, this will kill just about anything attempting to live on your board.


Rinse, and cover with baking soda. Using an abrasive scrubbing pad and little water, scour the top for 2 minutes. This will help to smooth the board and the combination of this step and the next should neutralize any odors and bring the pH of your board surface back to neutral.


Rinse, and coat in white vinegar, which will clear out any remnants of the baking soda. Then rinse, pat dry, and rub briskly with kosker salt for 2 minutes. This will further help to smooth the board and will wick away any moisture in the board.


Now your board should be looking very clean, smooth, but bone dry.

So the final step is feeding the board.


Liberally coat with foodsafe mineral oil, first the back and sides, then coat to the point of pooling on top and let it absorb the oil for 15 minutes.


Wipe clean with a paper towel and your board should be almost as good as new, better really since it's ready to repel surface moisture which prevents warping and retention of odors.

Fiery Blackened Pork Sandwiches

Although it's not uncommon for me to spend hours in the kitchen, occasionally even I want something quick but tasty.


The pork loin chops were brined in brown sugar, kosher salt and cayenne for 30 minutes, then coated in grapeseed oil and dusted with guajillo chile powder before being grilled on a 400F grill. I grilled a small split baguette and finished the chops with monterey jack. A little mayo, tomatoes and raw red peppers cooled the heat just enough.

Spaghetti in Arugula & Hazelnut Pesto with Guanciale

This turned out very well, concept was to play to the delicate pepperiness of the guanciale with the arugula, while making the pesto stand on its own as well. Guanciale is nearly impossible to find, but I happened across this delicacy at Marczyk's, a trip which also yielded fresh Niman Ranch pork belly. Guanciale is rare due to the key ingredient: Pork cheeks. I hadn't tasted these until this summer, and as much as this might cause you pause due to the nature of the anatomy involved, please don't hesitate to try pork cheeks if given the opportunity; the meat is sweet, certainly more desirous than even the tenderloin.



The preparation involved three steps...

First, bring three quarts of water to a boil and add a generous portion of sea salt. To this, blanch 2 cups of arugula for about 15 seconds. Drain the arugula, then blitz this with a 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, a handful of hazelnuts, and 1/3 cup olive oil. Season with fresh ground black pepper and salt.

Next, over medium low heat, crisp lardons of guanciale with a splash of olive oil. Toss freqently to evenly bring a golden brown exterior, but don't crisp through like bacon. You want to preserve some of the texture that this coveted pork product brings to bear. Remove and pat dry with a cotton cloth. Separately, toast a halved portion of Italian bread or a baguette after spritzing with olive oil, 400F for 10 minutes.

Finally, to the boiling water, cook to al dente 1/2 a package of spaghetti, herein I used an artisan brand from whole foods ($3 a package, but much better quality than DeCecco for instance). Drain the pasta, plate, and drizzle with a touch of extra virgin olive oil. Spoon on 2 tablespoons of the pesto, and surround the center with the guanciale. Accompany with the toasted baguette.

This was an addictive flavor pairing, I'm quite sure that guanciale would be great in Italian salads, especially those with arugula. Kudos for Marczyk's for yet again surprising me with a great ingredient.

Flavor Bible, Alinea Book, A Day at El Bulli & Charcuterie

I am soon to be beset with innovative ideas from 4 new books (3 just published). Each will be deserving of reviews in their own right, but the thirst for knowledge and desire to explore have preempted me from doing so just yet, I'm now surprisingly optimistic about actually preparing several Alinea dishes. A few first impressions ...

The Flavor Bible - Erudite, magnanimous, chaulked with years of inspiration

Alinea the Book - Challenging, approachable, pedagogical, and sublime ... from the new doyen of American Cuisine

Charcuterie - comprehensive, meticulous, multi-genred and wise

A Day at El Bulli - should arrive on Saturday, can't wait